FSN 67

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Volume 2 • Issue 65

June12 - June 27 2018

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Continued Exclusive Coverage for This Summer’s Hot Florida League Baseball

Page 2 Florida Sporting News • 6/12/18 - 6/27/18

Scorpions Experience Highs and Lows In Week Following All-Star Break On Monday, Paxton Rigby (Georgia Tech) lined a single into left-center field to put a period on the Seminole County Scorpions first game of the week. The walk-off base hit against the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs continued a hot stretch for Rigby as he collected a hit for the sixth time in the previous seven games.

runs.

Kerry Carpenter (Virginia Tech) had his third multi-hit game of the week and drove in four RBIs. And, on Wednesday night, the Scorpions squeezed by the Rats, collecting a 5-4 win and split the doubleheader that day.

.300 on the season and leads the team in batting average. His .478 average during the week led the team.

Anthony George (UCF)

A hot start to the seven game slate saw the UCF Knight earn serious consideration for the Scorpions Player of the On Saturday, the Scorps completed Pablo Cedeno (Undecided) and Anthony Week. At the plate, George collected a doubleheader against the Diamond George (UCF) led the charge at the plater his first home run of the season and Dawgs. This time, Seminole County was and helped Seminole County score three had two straight multi-hit games to on the opposite end of a good showing. of their four earned runs. begin the long week. At one point, the The Scorpions dropped both games of the catcher raised his average by nearly 60 day, collecting a combined seven runs on Who’s trending UP points and was in the top-5 of all aconly four hits and 20 walks.

Jacob Burr (Undecided) tive Scorpion hitters.

In between the three games against the Dawgs, Seminole County resided at Sanford Memorial Stadium for a four-game set against the Sanford River Rats.

In his first week with the Scorpions, Burr proved to coach Steve Stowell that there is another reliable arm on the roster. The righty made his debut on Wednesday, The teams would split the series, with the throwing an inning of scoreless baseball Scorpions collecting their first mercy rule in relief. He then threw a complete game shutout against the Rats two days later, win of the season on Friday night. striking out eight of the 28 batters he In that evening contest, Jacob Burr (Unfaced. decided) got his first start of the season and deliver a gem. The righty was strong Kerry Carpenter (Virginia Tech) for seven innings of work, giving up Carpenter came out of the All-Star break eight hits, eight strikeouts and threw a where he left off. The lefty hitter had complete game shutout. His offense was three multi-hit games this week and behind him too, as the bats for Seminole drove in four runs against the River Rats County collected 12 hits and drove in 10 on Friday. Carpenter is now hitting over

5/29/18 - 6/12/18 • Florida Sporting News

Page 3

Rats Fire On All Cylinders, Notch Four Wins This Week SANFORD, Fla – In the fifth full week of action around the Florida League, the Sanford River Rats played seven games in a five-day span. In a back-and-forth week, the Rats notched four wins and now sit at 14-17-1 this season. The Rats saw big performances both on the mound and at the plate this past week, helping propel the team to four wins.

Offensively, nine Rats hit .300 or better, the biggest tally the team has seen this season. Collin Morrill (New Orleans) led all Sanford sluggers on offense, hitting a tremendous .462 on the week. Morrill played in all seven games and racked up 12 hits, including two doubles. In addition, he drove in seven runs this week, moving his season total to 10 RBIs. Morrill also notched an on base percentage of .533, showing that he was doing it all to reach safely.On Saturday against the DeLand Suns, Morrill churned out his second four-hit game of the season, finishing 4-for-5 with an RBI. Michael Harkcom (FIU) also had a healthy week at the plate, hitting .455 with six RBIs. After sitting a week due to injury, Harkcom returned to the lineup and didn’t skip a beat picking up right where he left off.

Andrew Labosky (Nova Southeastern), Cole Warken (Undecided), Jonnie Benniefield (Undecided), Jarrod Cande (Santa Fe), Miles Simington (Heartland), Jackson Muldowney (Indian River State) and Bubba Sangster (St. Johns River) were the other Rats to all comfortably hit .300 or better this week.

Labosky and Benniefield each had four RBIs in the games they played while Simington drove in five throughout the span of the week.

On the mound, the Rats also saw a very successful week. Newcomer Jeremy Peel (St. Leo), Jeremy Orbik (Stetson), Devin Meyer (Nova Southeastern) and Cande each earned a win for Sanford. Peel tossed

four solid innings in his River Rat debut, finishing off a continuation game versus DeLand and picked up his first victory of the summer. He finished with five strikeouts and did not allow an earned run.

Vlad Nunez (Stetson) also had a productive week on the bump for the Rats. The righty hurled a total of eight innings and struck out eight batters.

Meyer and Orbik tossed gems for the Rats going seven and five innings, respectively. Meyer allowed just one run on three hits while Orbik gave up zero runs on only one hit.

In addition, Zebulon Vermillion (Arkansas) made his Sanford debut and appeared twice out of relief. The hard-throwing right-hander sat at 93-plus MPH and did not allow a hit in hist 1 2/3 innings of work.

Page 4 Florida Sporting News • 6/12/18 - 6/27/18

7 Games in a “Ruff” 5 Days Sees Dogs Go 3-4 WITNER PARK, Fla (July 15, 2018) – What a crazy week it was for the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs as they played seven games in just five days this week and went 3-4. They played well enough to potentially win every game this week but some late-game mishaps led to their downfall.

The week began on Tuesday for the Diamond Dawgs as their game on Monday was moved to a double header the following day. The Seminole County Scorpions would play a home-and-home game with the Diamond Dawgs in Winter Park. The Scorpions were the home team in the first seven inning game of the double header and won the game in extra innings by a score of 6-5.The extra inning happened to be the eighth inning because of the seven-inning game scheduled. Winter Park opened the scoring in the game early in the top of the second inning and took a 1-0 lead. A Seminole County grand slam in the third inning would give them a little breathing room. Jacob Teter (Florida Southern) would answer with a home run of his own. It was a two run blast to pull Winter Park back within one run after the fourth inning. The Diamond Dawgs would pull ahead in the sixth inning with a two RBI double from Chandler Robertson (UCF) to go up 5-4.Winter Park’s bats would fade late, as Seminole County tied it up in the bottom of the inning to send the game to extras. No offense would come from Winter Park in the top half of the eighth and the game ended as the first Scorpion batter drove in the runner on second placed there by the international tiebreaker to win 6-5. This was the first close game the two teams had played.

Previously, each matchup saw the winning team score 11 or more runs with the closest run differential at six runs.Game two got started and then almost immediately halted due to weather in the area. The game would be moved to Saturday, which would see another scheduled double header with the Scorpions. The Diamond Dawgs held a 1-0 lead in the middle of the second inning.Coming off of an extra inning loss, the Diamond Dawgs had a tough challenge as the traveled to Leesburg to take on the first place Lightning. Winter Park would do a lot right in the game until it came to the ninth inning.

Winter Park held a 6-3 lead needing only three more outs in the bottom of the ninth to win their first game against Leesburg this season. That didn’t happen as the pitching fell apart and four of the first five batters were walked. The Lightning would go on to score four runs in the bottom of the ninth without getting a base hit to win 7-6.

Thursday saw a double header at home for the Diamond Dawgs against the Lightning as they looked to rebound from the previous day’s loss. Game one was a continuation from a suspended game on June 23 that saw the Lightning leading 1-0 in the middle of the second inning. On the first pitch of resumed play, Jacob Teter hit a home run on the first pitch he saw. This game would be a battle as Winter Park would be down 4-1 at one

point. The Diamond Dawgs would come up just short in the seventh inning as Hunter Phillips (Alabama State) would hit a solo shot to right field with two outs to make it a 4-3 game. The Lightning would hold on though as because of the game’s start date, they would claim the record for longest winning streak in FCSL history at 14 games.

5/29/18 - 6/12/18 • Florida Sporting News

Page 5

Winter Garden Week 6: Good Start, Tough Finish WINTER GARDEN, Fla (July 15, 2018) – With a good start and tough end this week in Winter Garden, the Winter Garden Squeeze snagged two wins this past week, but dropped five. It all started with a big win against the #1 Leesburg Lightning at Heller Brothers Ballpark. Winter Garden maintained the lead the whole span of the game, with Leesburg not being able to outweigh the (4) errors made along the way. The final score was 5-2.The Squeeze faced the DeLand Suns at home on Wednesday and took an early lead to start the game and scored one run in their first inning against the Suns. The Squeeze were unable to score again until the bottom half of the ninth; but the Suns had already scored five beforehand with a two-run homer, which put the Suns back on top and gave them the win, 5-3. As the series continued, Winter Garden took the road to DeLand for a doubleheader, going 1-1 for the day. They took game two; 5-3.Winter Garden took the lead first in game two, and scored three in the top of the second. DeLand matched the Squeeze’s three runs and tied the game in the bottom of the fourth, but the Squeeze came back up and took the lead in the top of the fifth, after Ozuna another double to score Adams Torres (UCF). Tyler Head (Troy) hit a sacrifice fly to left field that scored Luke Reidy (Rollins) and advanced Drenis Ozuna (Connors State) to third, but no one else was able to score the rest of the inning, which resulted in the final score of the game being 5-3, Winter Garden.

The Squeeze faced the Suns one last time after

playing them three times in a row prior, but errors lead to the fall of Winter Garden.

DeLand left Friday night with a 5-3 win.

Tuesday’s game was rescheduled to Saturday, which resulted in a doubleheader in Leesburg to end the week. After a long day, it resulted in two very uneasy endings for Winter Garden, as the visitors were unable to claim a victory from Leesburg. Due to weather, game one came to a close after five innings of play; the Squeeze were defeated by the Lightning 6-2. Game two was a back and fourth game that kept the fans on the edge of their seat. The game went into an extra inning, where the Squeeze took the lead in the top of the eighth after Reeder Smith (Troy) hit a double and scored after a Aaron Anderson (Flagler) made it on base and errors made by the Lightning. Headed into the bottom of the eighth, Winter Garden was up 7-6 and just needed to execute three more outs.Leesburg had other plans.

Michael Cullen (Chipola) came in for Winter Garden to close out the game. With two Leesburg players on base, Sean Mootrey hit a walk-off three-run homer for the Lightning, which resulted in Leesburg snagging the lead and the final score of game two was 9-7.

Top Performers – Reeder Smith (Troy) - .440 AVG, 8 R, 11 H, 2-3B, 6 SB. P – Ryan Welsh (Un-

decided) – 6.2 IP, 5 SO, 0.000 ERAThe Florida League prepares for the Southeast Prospect Collegiate Showcase at Wingate University in North Carolina. The showcase will be held on Monday and Tuesday, July 16/17.

Page 6 Florida Sporting News • 6/12/18 - 6/27/18

Week 6 Recap: Leesburg Displays Clutch Hitting During 5-2 Week Leesburg, FL - 14 runs in the last or second-to-last inning this week, including two walk-off wins saw the Leesburg Lightning go 5-2, boosting their league-best record to 23-7. The Clutch City Lightning have all but locked up the top spot in this year’s Florida League playoffs, so let’s take a look bat at this past week.

Weekly Team Leaders (These numbers only reflect players’ performances throughout the past week, not the entire season) Batting Avg: Jay Prather - 0.429 (5th in the FCSL) Hits: Jay Prather - 9 (3rd in the FCSL) Runs: Luke Brown 6 (2nd in the FCSL).

RBIs: Jay Prather 5 (4th in the FCSL). HRs: Sean Mootrey and Tanner May - 1 (2nd in the FCSL)

In the first walk-off win of the week for the Lightning, both Lunday and 7/9 vs Winter Garden SqueezeTanner Crisostomo were instrumental in what May. Before May suffered a calf injuturned into a monstrous comeback at ry earlier this week, he was arguably Pat Thomas Stadium. Lunday started the league’s hottest hitter, taking the the game and went six full innings league lead in RBIs and entering the while only allowing two runs (one top five for league batting average. In earned) on two hits, striking out four his only at-bat of the week, he sent a Diamond Dawgs batters. Jose had a no-doubt bomb over the right-center perfect night at the plate, reaching field wall at Winter Garden, cutting the base all five times he stepped into the batter’s box, tallying three walks and going 2-2 with two singles and a stolen base. He also drew a walk and scored during the four-run ninth inning rally that the Lightning used to eventually steal the game on a walk-off error by Winter Park first baseman Jacob Teter.

Best Performances of the Week

Squeeze lead in half. May was subbed out following the at-bat and has yet to play for the Lightning since. Hopefully, he will be able to return following three days off this week before Leesburg returns to action on 7/18.

7/12 vs Winter Park Diamond Dawgs (Game 2 of DH) - Joshua Shapiro It’s time to acknowledge what Josh Shapiro is doing this season. Sure he SOs: Hunter Caudelle - 9 (2nd in the gave up three runs and took the loss in FCSL) this game, but the Lightning offense Innings Pitched: Hunter Caudelle - 9.0 7/11 vs Winter Park Diamond Dawgs - only provided one run of support, so (1st in the FCSL) it’s hard to blame Shapiro for that.

Codie Lunday and Jose Crisostomo

5/29/18 - 6/12/18 • Florida Sporting News

Page 7

Florida League Prepring For Sixth Prospect Showcase For the sixth season in a row, the Florida Collegiate Summer League will take part in the Southeast Collegiate Prospect Showcase, which will be held this year at Wingate University in North Carolina.

Debuting in 2013, the initial Prospect Showcase featured the Florida League facing off against the Sunbelt League at Melching Field in DeLand. The two leagues would play each other in Georgia in 2014, and then head back to Florida in 2015. The 2016 edition added the Southern Collegiate League to the mix, and was played in Georgia.

Last season, the Valley and Cal Ripken Leagues were added to the mix in a bracket-style format. The Florida and Valley Leagues shared the title when the event was shortened due to weather.

The Prospect Showcase has been a spring board for talent in the Florida League specifically. More than 50 players over the past five seasons have been launched to professional careers, in no small part due their participation in the Prospect Showcase. That includes Joe Dudek (2016 DeLand), who played so well in the Showcase that the Kansas City Royals offered him a contract the following week.

Each Florida League head their teams who they believed Those lists were then looked members, as well as scouts summer, to determine who stats from the summer were mining factor for selection. “pro-level” tools was consid-

coach nominated players from to be legitimate pro prospects. over by Florida League staff who have attended games this would make the team. While looked at, they were not a deterAny player with potential for ered for the team.

All six of the teams in the Florida League are represented on the roster, led by seven players from the Sanford River Rats. The DeLand Suns follow with six selections, the Leesburg Lightning will send five players, the Winter Garden Squeeze’s contingent will be four, and three players from the Winter Park DiamondDawgs and the Seminole County Scorpions round out the roster.

Leesburg’s Rich Billings will lead the FCSL coaching staff, which will also include DeLand head coach Rick Hall, Sanford manager Scotty Makarewicz, and Winter Garden’s Jay Welsh. In North Carolina, the Florida League will play games against the Valley Baseball League and the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League. On Monday evening, the FCSL will play the VBL at 7:30. The trip will conclude at 12:45 p.m. on Tuesday, when the Florida League battles the Ripken League.

Page 8 Florida Sporting News • 6/12/18 - 6/27/18

Rats Drop Saturday with the Suns SANFORD, Fla – To finish up a fiveday, seven-game stretch, the River Rats welcomed the DeLand Suns to Memorial Stadium on Saturday but fell by a final score of 8-2.

“We had hits, we just couldn’t get timely hits,” head coach Scott Makarewicz said. “We got some great innings from out pitchers, but the error killed us. We can’t make those mistakes in the field.”

spot. Morrill finished 4-for-5 with an RBI and rocketed his batting average up to .396 on the summer.To start off the scoring, Morrill singled in the first inning and later came around to score on a fielder’s choice from Miles Simington (Heartland). The Rats held a 1-0 lead after the first inning, but could not keep pace as

However, in the later portions of the game, the Suns added insurance runs and eventually opened up a comfortable 8-2 lead which became final.

The Rats finished with two runs on 10 hits and three defensive errors. Sanford now sits at 1417-1 on the year.

Casey Todd (Undecided) started the game for Sanford, going four solid innings before giving the ball to the trio of Matt Logullo (FIU), Bryce Van Horn (Valdosta State) and Zebulon Vermillion (Arkansas) for the final half of the game.

Offensively, six Rats collected base hits, highlighted by Collin Morrill’s (New Orleans) tremendous effort from the leadoff

In the bottom half of the fourth, the Rats picked up their second run of the game.

With one out, Jackson Muldowney (Indian River State) roped a ball down the line in right, creeping to the corner.

Muldowney hustled around the bases and safely slid into third and picked up the Rats’ first triple of the summer.

Two batters later, Morrill lined a single through the infield and brought in Muldowney to score, making it 4-2.

the game went on.

Heading to the bottom of the fourth, the Suns led 4-1.

The Rats will now have a three-day break for the Florida League’s prospect showcase in North Carolina. Seven River Rats will be making the trip to the greater-Charlotte area to play on the Florida League team. The Rats are back in action on Wednesday at Bishop Moore High School against the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs.

SERVING ALL OF HURRICANE IRMA RELIEF FAMILIES FOR THE LOCAL ORLANDO AREA

5/29/18 - 6/12/18 • Florida Sporting News

Page 9

Suns Head Into Break With 8-2 Win In Sanford SANFORD, Fla.- The DeLand Suns entered the Prospect Showcase break on a winning note on Saturday night, claiming an 8-2 victory over the Sanford River Rats at Sanford Memorial Stadium. The Suns recorded 13 hits in the win, and have now won four of five games heading into the three-day break.An error, one of three on the game for the Rats, allowed DeLand to take a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. The Suns loaded the bases on two singles and a hit by pitch with two outs. A ball off the bat of Geordon Blanton (Marshall) was thrown away by the Rats, allowing Scout McFalls (Winthrop) and Matt Mulkey (Winthrop) to both score.

Sanford got a run back in the bottom of the first, as Collin Morrill (New Orleans) turned a leadoff double into a run on an RBI fielder’s choice from Miles Simington (Heartland CC).

The Suns moved their lead back to two runs in the top of the third, again without the aid of an RBI. Back to back singles from Blanton and Kyle Ball (Stetson) put runners on the corners, and a wild pitch delivered by the Suns allowed Blanton to score, giving DeLand a 3-1 edge.

Both teams added a run in the fourth inning. An errant pickoff throw in the top half allowed Wade Stauss (Southeast Missouri) to score in the top half, while Morrill drove in Jackson Muldowney (Indian River State) with a single in the bottom of the frame.

Following the fifth inning, the game was halted for an hour due to lightning in the area. The delay spelled the end of the day for DeLand starter Ryan Fultz (Troy), who earned his first victory of the season after five strong innings on the hill.

After the delay, the Suns extended their lead to 5-2 with a run in the top of the sixth. Again with runners on the corners after a walk to Stauss and a single by Nick DeTringo (Tampa), McFalls drove in Stauss with an RBI groundout to the second baseman.

DeLand then put the game away with three runs in the top of the eighth inning. Singles by DeTringo and McFalls started the action, with a sacrifice fly from Mulkey driving in DeTringo. McFalls then stole third for his eleventh stolen base of the season, and came home on an errant throw. The Suns capped their scoring on an RBI single from Blanton, which plated Alan Alonso (Lake Sumter).While the Suns scored four runs following the lightning delay, the bullpen team of Chris Burgess (Middle Georgia) and Jarrett Backus (Lake Sumter) combined to keep the River Rats off the scoreboard. Burgess and Backus, who each threw two innings, allowed just one total hit and faced just two batters more than the minimum.

Six DeLand Suns will continue playing during the break as participants in the Southern Collegiate Prospect Showcase. The team will get back together for FCSL action on Wednesday for a meeting with the first place Leesburg Lightning at Pat Thomas Stadium.

Page 10 Florida Sporting News • 6/12/18 - 6/27/18

Dawgs Sweep Double Header; Explode For 9 Runs in Each Game WINTER PARK, Fla (July 14, 2018) – For the first time this season, the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs were able to take both games of a double header as they defeated the Seminole County Scorpions twice on Saturday. Game one saw a closer 9-5 result while Winter Park ran away with game number two winning 9-2 and only allowing one hit.

The Diamond Dawgs began game one of the double header with a 1-0 lead heading into the bottom of the second inning. The first game was the resumption of game two of a double header on July 10 that was suspended in the middle of the second. Brian Ellis (FGCU) led off the bottom of the first inning on that day with a home run. Little did either side know that Winter Park would continue mashing home runs as the course of Saturday’s games unfolded.

Winter Park picked up right where they left off by scoring a run in the bottom of the second inning. Robbie Scott (Lake Sumter) doubled as the first batter out of the gate in the resumed game. He would score on a single by Ryan Watson (Winthrop) to give the Diamond Dawgs a 2-0 lead.

Four runs would score in the bottom of the third inning as Tyler Osik (UCF) drove in the first run with an RBI single. Alex Jackson (Wichita State) followed Osik’s lead and had an RBI single of his own. With two down in the inning Cristian Rivera (Webber International) hit his first home run of the summer to add two more, making it a 6-0 Winter Park advantage. Rivera had struggled early on in the season but has had three doubles over the last five calendar days as well as the four-bagger he added tonight.

“I’m definitely finding my groove,” said Rivera, “I’ve been fixing simple stuff at the plate and I’m just looking to hit to the middle of the field.”

WINTER GARDEN 3310 Daniels Rd Winter Garden, FL

407-877-3744

The scoring continued as Jacob Teter (Florida Southern) would take a ball out of the yard as well driving in another pair of runs on his fifth homer of the season. There would be more to come from him in game two of the double header. Winter Park tallied one more insurance run in the bottom of the fifth on an Abraham Sequera (UNF) sacrifice fly. The Diamond Dawgs scored in innings one through five in the first seven inning contest. Game one would end with Winter Park beating Seminole County 9-5.

Despite the decent margin of victory for the Diamond Dawgs their pitching staff struggled to find the strike zone. Winter Park walked a total of 14 batters in the game but would only allow three hits. To their credit, the Diamond Dawg pitchers stranded 12 Scorpions on the base paths as they worked out of three consecutive innings where they left the bases loaded.

“When you separate yourself with a lead like that you’ve got to make them pound the ball to get back in the game,” said Winter Park manager Chuck Schall, “Offensively we’re starting to swing the bat, I

liked the way we played tonight.”

5/29/18 - 6/12/18 • Florida Sporting News

Page 11

A Series of Unfortunate Events for the Squeeze LEESBURG, Fla (July 14, 2018) – It was two very uneasy endings for the Winter Garden Squeeze on Saturday night, as the visitors were unable to claim a victory from the Leesburg Lightning.

Due to weather, game after five innings of defeated by the Light-

one came to a close play; the Squeeze were ning 6-2.

Zack Moore stepped showed utter confithe first batter with of the game. During Moore struck out four

on the mound and dence as he struck out the first three pitches his four inning outing, batters.

“Knowing my team I pitch is something to me,” Moore stated out for me.”

has my back when that is real important postgame, “They look

Tension slowly built as the Squeeze had a hard defensive plays that position to score.

the game went on, as time executing key left the Lightning in

Leesburg scored first in the bottom of the second, but Winter Garden was able to tie it up quickly during their next at bat in the third inning; as Pablo Cabrera (Florida Southern) was brought home after a single from Adams Torres (UCF).

After the Lightning scored another run in the bottom of the third inning, the Squeeze were able to tie the game up yet again in the top of the fifth; after Hunter Kamplain (Shelton State) singled, stole to second, advanced to third after a single from Matt Morgan (Manhattan), and scored right after due to error by Lightning catcher.

Before the game came to an end, Leesburg tallied four runs in the bottom of the fifth to take the win in game one. Game two began later than expected, but better late than never.Both teams came out strong, with Winter Garden in the lead right away after they scored three runs right off the bat; started by a single from lead-off hitter, Reeder Smith (Troy) Smith advanced to second and third after two wild pitches and then scored home after an RBI double from Sadler Goodwin (Troy). Shortly thereafter, both Goodwin and Aaron Anderson (Flagler) scored after an RBI single from Drenis Ozuna (Connors State). The Lightning scored four in their outing in the first inning.

Page 12 Florida Sporting News • 6/12/18 - 6/27/18